BENGALURU: A significant cleanup effort was triggered within the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) following a comprehensive complaint by resident Mohan Babu M. This led to the suspension of six officers and staff from the Begur sub-division for allegedly creating 128 illegal vacant-land khatas. The suspended individuals include assistant revenue officers Suresh, Hemanth Kumar, and Narasimhalu, along with revenue officer Shantesh from Bommanahalli, and second division assistants Bhagyashree and Balalingaraju.
Concerns first arose when Mohan Babu contacted the GBA on April 21, 2025, reporting suspicious khata entries related to survey number 31/2 in Naganathapura village, Bengaluru South taluk. He claimed that khatas were being established for plots developed by Samskruthi Developers without proper ownership documentation. Instead of registered sale deeds or appropriate approvals from planning authorities, the applicants relied exclusively on self-affidavits, a method considered illegal under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, the Registration Act, and the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act (KTCP).
Alarmed by the scale of the irregularities, Babu urged the GBA to investigate and annul the unlawful khatas. His complaint prompted the special commissioner (revenue) to order a thorough inquiry led by joint commissioners overseeing Bommanahalli and revenue matters.
“Investigations revealed that the officers initially entered details of 128 plots manually in the physical B-register and later attempted to upload them to the e-khata system, circumventing essential legal safeguards meant to prevent fraudulent entries,” stated Munish Moudgil, special commissioner (revenue) at GBA. “The inquiry confirmed that khatas were issued without any sale deeds or registrations, infringing upon the Registration Act and the Transfer of Property Act. The officers also dismissed the BBMP circular dated October 3, 2024, which prohibits khata creation for unauthorized layouts lacking necessary approvals per Section 17 of the KTCP Act, 1961.”
Establishing khatas based solely on affidavits is entirely illegal and poses significant financial risks to the government. Consequently, GBA chief commissioner Maheshwar Rao mandated the suspension of all six personnel. He announced that a departmental inquiry and legal actions have been initiated, affirming GBA and the five city corporations’ strict policy against illegal khata creation, record manipulation, and citizen harassment.
GBA officials encourage the public to report suspicious khata activities, emphasizing that any khata issued without valid ownership documentation is invalid and may be annulled. The investigation will persist to determine whether additional officers or intermediaries were part of this operation.
